When you say,
I do believe you miss the target. From what I can see, it was not dangus himself whom is trying to do any such thing.
I can't find the scolding comment that was made to him, by one of the Catholic contributors here, but it was in response to that, that he started this thread. That much is clear enough to me.
Unfortunately I cannot find the comment I am here referring to.
We'll get to the bottom of it eventually I hope, but it sure would help if that scold whom made the comment to dangus (on another thread) which lead to this thread being initiated by dangus, would stand up, be counted, and publicly admit that they were wrong.
THEN all this silly stuff would just "go away".
Actually, I wasn’t so much scolded, as merely surprised to learn how flimsy the story was, and that some disbelieved it.
Apparently, on May 14, 1999, Pope John Paul II received a group of visitors from Iraq. At this time, he received a green book as a gift and kissed it. The IRAQI TELEVISION coverage reported that the pope had kissed the Koran. (In other languages, “kiss” has the same meaning as “embrace” does in English. In fact, the English word “embrace” comes from the French word, “embrace,” meaning to kiss.)
The Chaldean patriarch was then quoted by a single western news source, three weeks later, explaining that the pope was not, in fact, “embracing” Islam, but was embracing the largely Islamic Iraqi people. This was the same patriarch who would later call the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq the greatest miracle in the middle east in the last 2,000 years. The traditionalist and sedevacantist factions of the American Catholic church then went absolutely nuts, however, when they got wind that the Pope had kissed the Koran.
Since the Chaldean patriarch was a witness at the event, I initially took his witnessing at face value. Then I realized:
* The physical evidence of the event, apparently, is a single photographic still,
* The Koran was not presented to him by the organizers of the event (the Chaldeans), or as part of an event function, but merely on a receiving line,
* The Chaldean patriarch’s comments were not made after the event, but after the Iraqi news media spent weeks showing the image.
* The Vatican normally is quick with an explanation of any gestures the pope has made that they deem significant. There was never any mention from the Vatican; the Iraq news photo and the Patriarch’s comments were the only news sources.
This suggests to me that
(1) despite having been present in the room when this took place, the Chaldean patriarch may have been relying on Iraqi news coverage for his belief that the pope kissed the Koran, and
(2) even if it was a Koran, since it was a largely Christian delegation that the Pope was receiving, it may not have occurred to the Pope that that’s what it was, since it doesn’t look like a Koran, being in merely a binder, and doesn’t appear to be labeled as one,
(3) but at least we KNOW this was NOT the planned event that many make it out to have been. This was a pope kissing the gifts presented to him by people who he is trying to demonstrate how greatly he loves. If he KNEW it was a Koran, and he kissed it, it was a lapse of judgment; it was NOT a planned communication. This is what I’ve said all along, that it was a lapse of judgment. Now, I’m seeing where possibilities 1 and 2 are real possibilities. I was rather hoping someone would help me find out which one of the three was the truth.